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Message: [QUOTE="nzm136, post: 538610, member: 2531"] I haven't seen the clause, but I would assume that NBC would have to give a "final offer" before ESPN's match clause can be envoked. Otherwise ESPN would offer to match, so NBC would respond by raising the offer, and so on and so on, just like a normal bidding war. If NBC does have to give a final offer, then their offer should be the lowest price at which they think that ESPN won't offer to match, or if they don't think that the BIG EAST is that valuable to them, then they should offer the highest price that they think ESPN will match, so ESPN couldn't get it for cheap. Assuming that NBC had to give a final offer that they are rational (i.e. they did what makes the most economic sense), and that they only offered about $20-$23 million/yr for all BIG EAST sports, then the nBE is just nearly completely worthless. Syracuse and WVU added value to the ACC and the Big XII respectively, and both the ACC and the Big XII have per school payouts that are roughly equal to the ENTIRE rumored payout for every school in the nBE combined. That doesn't speak well for the TV appeal of UCONN and UC. It also doesn't speak well about either school's chances of moving up to a "Power Five" conference, even if they somehow keep from dropping off. On the bright side, recruiting in the northeast just got a LOT easier. UCONN is gone, and I'm not sure how much longer RU will remain a factor. No FCS wins and yearly losses to OSU, PSU, Michigan, Nebraska, and Michigan State are not going to help their chances of going to a bowl, the athletic program will be fored to add more sports, most of the TV revenue bump will balance out reductions in student athletics fees, which means the athletic program won't see as much of an increase as many are projecting, the combo of the BTN buy-in, the BIG EAST exit fee, and a year of the nBE's TV contract won't do them any financial favors, and they have fewer games close to home. Throw in the fact that WVU is an island, and when it's all said and done, they aren't projected to have tangibly more TV money than Pitt, who is not an island, and WVU might be running uphill too. BC is a mess, UMD is a mess and broke, and PSU will be down for another 6 years or so, which gives us an excellent window. The ENTIRE northeast consists of Syracuse and Pitt. We have a ton of money and shiny new facilities (hopefully including an indoor practice building soon). Don't look now, but if HCSS is as good as I think that he will be, we will be the beast in the east. Throw in the fact that basketball has the Melo center, and I would imagine that lax will benefit from the renovations/IPF, and we could be looking at the late 80's all over again. [/QUOTE]

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